Clinically reviewed by the Massachusetts Sleep Center clinical team · August 2026
Anxiety is usually described as a way of thinking. Most people meet it first as a way of feeling: a chest that will not loosen, a jaw that has been clenched since lunch, a stomach that reacts to an email. Therapy for anxiety in Massachusetts starts by taking the body seriously, because by the time worry reaches the mind it has usually been living in the muscles for a while.
Generalized anxiety rarely arrives as a single panic. It settles in, in three places at once, and people often recognise only one of them as "anxiety".
A heart that races while you sit still. Shoulders up by your ears. Shallow breathing you only notice when you sigh. Tension headaches, a churning stomach, the restlessness that makes a quiet evening feel like waiting for something. The body is braced for a threat that does not arrive, and it stays braced.
Worry that moves from topic to topic without ever settling one. Rehearsing conversations that may never happen. A running audit of everything that could go wrong at work, at home, with your health, with the people you love. Difficulty concentrating, because part of your attention is always on guard duty.
The lights go out, the distractions stop, and the guard has nothing to watch but the ceiling. Falling asleep takes an hour; waking at three brings the day's list back in full. This is the part of anxiety we see most, because a wired body and a vigilant mind are exactly what insomnia is made of, and untreated anxiety is one of the most common reasons a sleep problem refuses to resolve.
Every clinician on our Massachusetts team lists anxiety among the conditions they treat, and each brings a slightly different toolkit to it. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the common ground: identifying the predictions anxiety makes, testing them, and teaching the body to stand down. Eneida Qirko adds mindfulness and motivational interviewing for people whose anxiety is tangled up with habits they want to change; Christine Ashmore works with Internal Family Systems alongside CBT, useful when the anxious part of you is arguing with a part that is exhausted by it; Maureen Gebhardt pairs CBT with motivational interviewing and a whole-person view of physical and mental health.
Where poor sleep is tangled up with the anxiety, the CBT-I work is built into the same course of therapy rather than referred elsewhere: the same clinician, the same weekly session, one plan that treats the worry and the wakefulness as the single loop they usually are. The full sleep side is described on ourinsomnia treatment page.
Insomnia specialist
Specialities: Insomnia, Anxiety, Self Esteem, Depression
Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational interviewing
Maureen Gebhardt is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker who works with young adults and individuals across the lifespan on a range of issues, including addiction, depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, and work stress. She uses evidence-based techniques and a holistic, integrated mental and physical health approach to help clients manage and improve their wellbeing. Maureen has completed specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), equipping her to help clients struggling with sleep difficulties. She is committed to creating a safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental space where clients can build on their strengths, develop practical tools for resilience, and take meaningful steps toward the life they want.
Book with Maureen
Insomnia specialist
Specialities: Insomnia, Anxiety, Substance abuse
Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness, Motivational interviewing
Eneida Qirko is a licensed mental health counselor with over 15 years of experience working with children, teens, and adults who are navigating a wide range of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, PTSD, relationship stress, life transitions, body image concerns, ADHD, ASD, and mood and personality disorders. She uses evidence-based approaches such as CBT, DBT, ACT, mindfulness, EMDR, and trauma-focused therapies, tailoring treatment to each client’s unique needs. Eneida brings a broad clinical perspective informed by her work in outpatient mental health clinics, emergency departments, private practice, court systems, schools supporting students with ASD, and substance use treatment settings. She has also completed specialized training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), allowing her to support clients with evidence-based strategies to improve sleep alongside their mental health goals.
Book with Eneida
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Specialist
Specialities: Insomnia, Anxiety, Grief, Divorce, Family, Trauma and PTSD
Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Internal Family Systems
Christine Ashmore, LICSW, is a licensed clinical social worker with 30 years of experience as a clinician. Her approach to therapy is very client-driven. She often employs CBT and evidence-based practices but sometimes clients need empathic listening and lots of rapport building before we can get to CBT. Christine has received additional training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and enjoys helping clients achieve improved sleep.
Book with ChristineAnxiety therapy is an outpatient behavioral health service and falls under the mental health benefit of the plans we accept: Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna / Evernorth, Harvard Pilgrim, Medicare, Tufts Health Plan, UnitedHealthcare / Optum and Veterans Affairs Community Care Network. Massachusetts parity rules mean that benefit is generally no thinner than your medical one, though copays and deductibles vary. Tell us your plan when you book and we will confirm your share before you are seen.
The GAD-7 is the seven-question screening tool clinicians use to gauge how heavily anxiety is weighing on someone over the past two weeks. It was published by Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams and Löwe in 2006 and is free to use. Your answers are scored here in your browser and are not sent anywhere; they exist only on this page until you close it.
One thing to hold in mind before you begin: this is a screening aid, not a diagnosis. A high score does not mean you have an anxiety disorder, and a low score does not mean you do not. Only a conversation with a clinician, for example one of ours, can settle that. The score is a way of putting a number on how things feel, so that the conversation has somewhere to start.
Whatever the number, if you would like to talk it through, an evaluation with a Massachusetts clinician is the next step, and you canbook one online.
Often you have one that is feeding the other, and the evaluation is where that gets untangled. A useful clue is timing: if the worry is there all day and merely follows you to bed, anxiety is likely the primary problem; if you feel fine until the lights go out and the dread is specifically about not sleeping, the insomnia has taken on a life of its own. Either way you are in the right place, because our clinicians are trained in both, and the treatment plan is written to fit the pattern you actually have.
For most adults with generalized anxiety, a course of cognitive behavioral therapy runs somewhere between eight and sixteen weekly sessions, and people typically notice the physical symptoms easing before the worrying thoughts do. When insomnia is part of the picture the CBT-I component is folded into the same course rather than added on afterwards. Your clinician will give you an estimate after the first appointment and revise it with you as you go.
Yes, and we would prefer it. We do not prescribe, so any medication decision stays with your prescriber, and with your permission your clinician will coordinate with them so that therapy and medication are pulling in the same direction. Therapy is not a replacement for a medication you are doing well on, and nobody here will suggest you stop one.
Cognitive behavioral therapy delivered by video has been compared with in-office therapy in controlled studies and performs comparably for anxiety disorders. For some people it works better, because the session happens in the room where the anxiety actually lives rather than in an office. We see most patients via telehealth with Massachusetts-licensed clinicians, and a limited number of clinicians also see patients in person; if being in the room matters to you, ask when you book.
Read it as a prompt to speak to a clinician soon, not as a verdict. A score of fifteen or above on a screening questionnaire means your symptoms are significant enough to deserve a proper evaluation, which is a conversation with a licensed clinician, not a form. Book an appointment with one of ours or with a clinician you already trust. If you ever feel unsafe or are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, at any hour.
Book an evaluation with a Massachusetts clinician who treats anxiety and the sleep it disturbs. If you would rather tell us about what is going on first,get started here; if you are not sure whether your nights point to anxiety or to something physical, our sleep study guide can help you decide.
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